Note: This article pertaining to Unsolicited Donation Added to Your Hotel Bill: What Do You Do? was originally published on Monday, October 6, 2014 at 4:18 in the morning and has been updated.
Some statements for my stays over the years — which had either been slipped under the doors of the hotel rooms or had been presented to me at the front desk — have automatically had a donation of as little as one euro added to it.
Unsolicited Donation Added to Your Hotel Bill: What Do You Do?
One euro is not much — but that is not the point. Regardless of the amount, I believe that it is rather quite rude and tactless to add an unsolicited donation to a hotel bill without advanced notice. Are guests not taxed, burdened with fees, and nickel-and-dimed enough?
Of course, you do have the option to go to the front desk and request that the donation be removed from the bill — and an agent at the front desk will usually fulfill the request almost immediately and give you a revised statement upon request…
…but that creates an awkward moment for the guest, who should not have to go through the trouble in the first place — and it wastes paper, toner or ink, electricity, and the time of the hotel employee to engage with the guest who wants the unsolicited optional charge removed.
Would all of that not add up to one Euro? perhaps the hotel or resort property should just consider donating the funds directly on behalf of its guests.
It is possible that the awkward moment is the plan of the hotel or resort property, with the hopes that guests will simply say that it is not worth the trouble or the bother to have the charitable donation removed.
Final Boarding Call
I do not want any entity to attempt to compel me to donate to a charity about which I know nothing. I will donate to what charitable organizations I want when I want and how I want.
Even worse is that in 2025, an increasing number of hotel and resort properties send the final receipts to guests via e-mail messages in order to save money, as a printer, toner or ink, paper, and electricity all costs money to print a receipt — and guests might not find out about any additional charges that have been automatically added to their folios until long after they have checked out of the hotel or resort property.
Should hotel properties place envelopes for charity in hotel rooms — similar to what was proposed from Marriott pertaining to gratuities for members of the housekeeping staff? Perhaps hotel and resort properties should add an “optional” additional charge for those gratuities — an idea which I would not support, by the way?
What has been your experience with unsolicited charitable donations added to your hotel bill? Do you just shrug them off and pay them — or do you request for the charge to be removed?
All photographs ©2020, ©2023, and ©2025 by Brian Cohen.
